Syllabus and Logistics
What to Expect
Course Motivation
March 27, 2023
Syllabus and Logistics
What to Expect
Course Motivation
(adapted from UW SPH and UWRA) Washington State is home to 29 federally recognized and five unrecognized tribes. We at the University of Washington live and work on the unceded land of the Coast Salish people, the land which touches the shared waters of all tribes and bands within the Duwamish, Suquamish, Tulalip and Muckleshoot nations.
Nina Galanter (she/her) galanter@uw.edu
4th year Ph.D. Student in Biostatistics
Statistical interests: Causal inference, survival analysis, applications to Mental and Behavioral Health
“Introduction to regression methods for analysis of continuous, binary, and time-to-event (survival) data. Covers linear regression, logistic regression, and proportional hazards regression, all at an introductory level. Makes use of examples drawn from the biomedical and health sciences literature.”
Lecture: MWF, 12:30 - 1:20pm HSE 214
Discussion: Tuesday, 10:30 - 11:20am HST 359
Office hours: TBD (fill out the when2meet poll!)*
*Office hours also available by appointment
In the context of medical and health sciences:
Interpret numerical and graphical summaries of data
Interpret coefficients in linear, logistic, and proportional hazards regression models
Select an appropriate regression model based on a scientific question and study design
Describe the necessary assumptions for linear, logistic, and proportional hazards regression in the contexts of estimation and prediction
Develop and interpret confidence intervals for model parameters
Set up and carry out appropriate hypothesis tests
Use linear and logistic regression models to make predictions
Use diagnostic procedures and sensitivity analyses to investigate potential deviations from model assumptions
Use the statistical software R to:
Please sign up to recieve email notifications of canvas announcements and messages.
Us the canvas discussion board for course context or homework questions
I will monitor the board regularly and strongly encourage you to answer others’ questions
You may email me a question and I will post it anonymously
Personal concerns or logistics questions can be communicated with me via email
Please communicate respectfully to your classmates and to me, and let me know if there are ways classroom communication can be made more accessible to you
I will respond to all emails sent between Monday morning and Friday at 5pm within 24 hours (and all weekend emails by the end of the next Monday)
You can see in the syllabus what you need to complete to get at least a certain grade (it is unlikely but I reserve the right to revise grades upward)
Grades based on pollev participation, discussion section activities, weekly quizes, homeworks, and course project
You will have the opportunity to revise homeworks and quizzes to gain credit
You will turn in a draft project graded on the same rubric as the final project
Posted on canvas one week prior to due date
Due Thursdays at 11:59 pm
Completed in a knit markdown pdf (we will go over this)
You are welcome to work together on homework; however, your submitted assignment (including R code) should be in your own words.
Homework guide and template available on canvas
Marked complete if you get 80% of the points correct on a given assignment.
Solution keys and individual feedback will be provided.
You have 3 homework extension days
You can divide them in any way (e.g. three for one assignment, one for three separate assignments)
You do not need to let me know in advance, but I would appreciate it
If your circumstances call for additional extensions talk to me
Late homework receives no credit
After homework is graded, you will have a week to submit revisions to gain a complete homework
To revise an incorrect answer, submit a couple sentences to a paragraph explaining your original reasoning/approach, why it was incorrect, and how to correct it in order to get the correct answer.
Weekly, open-note Canvas quizzes on Mondays.
Designed to ensure that you keep up with course material and can recall material from previous weeks.
Each quiz 10 questions: 3 on information from previous weeks, and 7 on the most recent week
Marked complete if 9 of 10 questions are correct.
Available from 12:01am PDT Monday until 11:59pm PDT Monday.
Quizzes will be graded on Tuesday, and you will have 48 hours from Wednesday 12:00am PDT to Thursday 11:59pm PDT for revisions
To revise an incorrect answer, submit a couple sentences to a paragraph explaining your original reasoning/approach, why it was incorrect, and how to correct it in order to get the correct answer
Discussion sections will be: group activities, review of class material, discussion of group projects, and practice using R.
Required to hand in a brief exercise (credit/no credit) at each discussion section
In person only
If you are unable to attend in person, you have the opportunity to complete the activity within a week to gain credit
If you anticipate not being able to be there in person for many of the sections please let me know
There will be poll everywhere questions during every lecture
To get credit answer all questions correctly
You will have time to correct your answers in class
Or you can answer before the next class to get credit, using the zoom recording
To get credit for the pollev questions for today’s lecture, just make sure you can access pollev by answering one question at pollev.com/ninag
There will be a final data analysis project
Will be completed individually
You will select a dataset, develop an appropriate analysis plan, carry out the analysis, and write a short report
A guidelines document is on canvas
You will give a 10 minute slide presentation on your project to the class on May 31 or June 2.
If you are unable to make one or both of these classes please let me know as soon as possible.
You will be expected to have access to a laptop during discussion sections, but not generally during lecture
Students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the academic honesty policies.
If you hand in homework or a quiz not written in your own words, all students involved will get a 0 without the opportunity to regain credit
Students should not discuss course projects with each other except during designated discussion sections and peer review
Do not come to class if you have cold/flu/covid symptoms and follow COVID isolation policies
See the syllabus for other recommendations
Please feel free to come to me with concerns about the class or myself
See syllabus for an anonymous feedback form
If you are not comfortable contacting me you may contact the Department of Biostatistics Associate Director of Academic Affairs (biostgp@uw.edu)
If you still are not satisfied with the response, you may contact the Department of Biostatistics Chair (bchair@uw.edu)
You may also contact the Graduate School at G-1 Communications Building, by phone at 206-543-5139 or by email at raan@uw.edu.
Accessibility is important to me
If you have established accomodations via DRS, please activite them so we can discuss implementation
If you have not yet established services through DRS but have a temporary health condition or permanent disability required accomodations (e.g. mental health, attention related, learning, vision, hearing, physical or health impacts) contact DRS at disability.uw.edu
If you are in the process of setting up accomodations also feel free to reach out to see if I can make the course more accessible in the meantime
UW has a religious accomodations policy, see syllabus for details
Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of the quarter
If anyone is currently observing Ramadan happy to discuss accommodations around that
Diverse backgrounds, embodiments and experiences are essential to the critical thinking endeavor at the heart of University education. In SPH, we are expected:
To respect individual differences, which may include, but are not limited to, age, cultural background, disability, ethnicity, family status, gender, immigration status, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status and veteran status.
To engage respectfully in the discussion of diverse worldviews and ideologies embedded in course readings, presentations and artifacts, including those course materials that are at odds with personal beliefs and values.
To encourage students with concerns about classroom climate to talk to their instructor, adviser, a member of the departmental or SPH EDI Committee, the Assistant Dean for EDI, or the program’s director.
We share our pronouns because we strive to cultivate an inclusive environment where people of all genders feel safe and respected
We cannot assume we know someone’s gender just by looking at them
So, I invite everyone to share their pronouns
See the syllabus for resources for reporting bias incidents and/or sexual harrassment
I am also available to discuss concerns with and/or direct you to resources
You will need light algebra and mathematical reasoning
No calculus assumed
We won’t prove technical results, but can provide resources if asked
Quizzes will not require any math beyond basic arithmetic, and are open note
This course is the natural sequel to BIOST 310
We will learn how to build regression models, estimate parameters, and interpret coefficients
Examples will be primarily in public health or health sciences applications
We will learn basic statistical computing in R
You are not expected to have a computing background
We will demonstrate important functions in lectures and discussion sections
We will provide helpful resources: templates for homework assignments, R code “cheat sheets” with useful functions, etc.
Homework for tonight: download R and R Studio (see instructions on Canvas - Week 1 module - Installing R and R Studio link)
Please complete the Background Canvas Quiz 1 by Wednesday!
Any Questions?
Why is statistics important?
We have a research question we want to answer
We hear a claim we think is false, and want to refute it
We have a lot of information and we don’t know how to make sense of it
We understand the current state of things, but want to predict future outcomes
Retinol (a Vitamin A derivative) is a popular skin care agent that has been shown in studies to decrease wrinkle surface area and hyperpigmentation. However, retinol is not safe to use for pregant individuals, and additionally retinol has known side-effects of causing skin dryness and stinging for many people. Bakuchiol has been proposed as a retinol alternative that is safe for pregnant individuals to use and does not have similar negative side-effects. However, we are not sure if Bakuchiol is as effective as retinol for decreasing wrinkle surface area and hyperpigmentation.
Q: Is Bakuchiol as effective as retinol for improving wrinkle surface area and hyperpigmentation?
How do we answer this question? (one option: a randomized trial )
Why is statistics important?
In this example:
A paper published in the Lacet (a relatively high-impact journal!) in 1998 suggested that the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine may cause autism spectrum disorder in children.
Statistical tools used to critically assess (and eventually refute) this claim:
Why is statistics important?
An important aside with this study: the lead author was funded by lawyers who had been representing parents in lawsuits against vaccine-producing companies. Critically reading studies from many angles (not only statistical) is important! A more detailed summary of this article and follow-up can be found here.
Why is statistics important?
Statistics influences public policy and our daily lives
Care needs to be taken when developing prediction models
Uncertainty needs to be appropriately calculated and reported
Regression (the main focus of our course) is a statistical tool underlying many statistical problems, including some of the ones we just discussed!
Any Questions?